Digital spaces, desire, and divided selves: an analysis of selected Malaysian cyberpunk fiction.

• Main Author: Mattar, Netty
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: PR English literature
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/84930/1/ICLL%20ACCEPTANCE%20LETTER_Netty%20Mattar.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/84930/7/84930%20Digital%20Spaces%2C%20Desire%2C%20and%20Divided%20selves.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/84930/

As a consequence of colonialism, Malaysian subjectivity has been defined by a certain dualism (see Embong, 2008; Morais, 2014, for example), arising from the separation of the secular from the spiritual, and of ethnicity from nationality. This division of consciousness implies that the Malaysian subject identifies with a specific ethnicity or religion, but is also compelled to view themselves from the outside, subsuming race and faith within nationality and the secular, and thus is in some sense also alienated from these very communities that define identity. This paper will explore what happens to Malaysian subjectivity in the digital age, where identity is further complicated by the increasing reliance on digital space. Digital space is a non-space in which one can temporarily discard one’s mortal identity and actively construct digital selves in accordance with private desires. Paradoxically, it is therefore also a space in which desire become public, its digital trace permanent and now open to monitoring, and surveillance, both by the state and by the market. Through the digital feedback loop, these desires become reintegrated into identity. What happens to Malaysian identity and cultural difference under the conditions of the neoliberal market and consumer culture? How is divided consciousness further complicated by digital surveillance that leads to new divisions and forms of exclusion through the production of biopolitical bodies? I will explore these ideas through an analysis of selected Malaysian cyberpunk short stories. Science fiction focuses the transformation of subjectivity through technology. I will explore how cyberpunk tropes have been adapted to illustrate Malaysian societal concerns about race, religion, nation, desire and control in this digital age.